Last One Out in Lychford

I have been following Paul Cornell’s Lychford novellas since they first started, and have enjoyed every one of them. I’m guessing that they didn’t do that well for Tor.com because Paul had to self-publish this sixth and final volume through Kickstarter. It is important that he did, because it provides closure for some of the major story arcs.

The main issue, as far as Cornell was concerned (and probably most fans of the series) was Lizzie the Vicar’s unrequited (and unspoken) love for her friend Autumn, who runs the village’s witchcraft shop. Coming out as a lesbian is not that easy when a) you are a widow, b) you are a vicar, and c) the object of your crush is very happily and heterosexually married. So there needed to be one more volume to tidy things up.

Another outstanding issue was that, despite the best efforts of Lizzie and her friends, some of the villagers still resented the presence of supernatural entities on the borders. Some even stubbornly kept garden gnomes, despite the strong objections of the local gnome community to such caricatures. Last One Out in Lychford chronicles Lizzie’s attempts to draw the two communities—mundane and supernatural—together through a village cricket match.

Those of you who know Cornell well will know that cricket is one of his passions. Here he gets to indulge it. Thankfully the village now has a women’s team and, as we know that most sportswomen are lesbians, this provides a new love interest for Lizzie.

The book leans heavily into coziness. Cornell makes a token effort at introducing some peril, but it is fairly obvious that everything is going to be resolved in a friendly manner over a cup of tea and some cake. That probably means that this is the weakest of the six books, but do I care? No. This book exists for fans of the series to see the various loose ends tidied up. It does that very well. I read it in an evening and thoroughly enjoyed it, even though it was fairly obvious exactly what was going to happen.

There is one serious issue that the book addresses. While most of the supernatural entities that live in and around Lychford are not actually mentioned in the Bible, some of them are demons. And a demon comes to play for the visitors in the cricket match. (He’s a bowler, obviously. I’m a little disappointed that he wasn’t called Shoaib, but that might have been taken as an insult in some quarters.) The villagers mostly expect Lizzie, being a vicar, to take a dim view of demons. Lizzie takes the view that no one is inherently evil, and anyone can repent their wicked ways. In this she provides a much better portrayal of Christianity than we are used to seeing from Bible-thumpers elsewhere. I am assuming that Cornell’s wife, Caroline, who is an actual vicar, had some say in this, which I find very encouraging.

I note also that the book has good roles for autistic kids, and for another sexual minority besides lesbians. This is all very welcome.

Finally I should note that there are two short stories included with the novella. The first sets up Lizzie’s situation in preparation for the main story. The other was published on Cornell’s blog and I am assuming is included for the benefit of fans of the series who might want it in a book.

Title: Last One Out in Lychford
By: Paul Cornell
Publisher: Blue Fox Books
Purchase links:
See here for information about buying books though Salon Futura